The Iberians of the Caucasus - ancestors of modern Georgians - inhabited the fertile valleys and mountain strongholds of what the Greeks had called Colchis. Their kingdom centered on Mtskheta and later Tbilisi, occupying strategic territory between the Black Sea and the Caspian, where Persian and Roman (later Byzantine) spheres of influence collided. This was ancient land with deep roots - locals claimed descent from peoples who had worked bronze when Rome was still marshland. The population mixed descendants of Colchians with various Caucasian mountain peoples, creating a distinct identity tied to specific valleys and fortified towns. When Christianity arrived in the early fourth century through the mission of Saint Nino, Iberians embraced it with an intensity that surprised even Byzantine observers. Within a generation, Christian identity became inseparable from being Iberian - their churches, their nobility, their very conception of proper society all intertwined with the faith.
This deep Christianization gave Iberian communities unusual cohesion. Where other mountain peoples remained fragmented into feuding clans, Iberian Christians recognized common cause through shared religion. A village that built a church and accepted a bishop became part of the Iberian sphere even if separated from royal administration by hostile territory. This religious solidarity provided influence that military force alone couldn't achieve - communities that followed Iberian ecclesiastical authority often defended themselves with remarkable determination, seeing threats as attacks on the faith itself. When Iberians faced challenges from Zoroastrian Persia or various northern raiders, their resistance drew strength from religious conviction that transformed ordinary conflicts into matters of spiritual survival. The white-robed clergy who blessed Iberian armies helped convert military setbacks into divine trials rather than simple defeats.
Persian pressure proved relentless - the Sassanids wanted client states on their northern frontier, not independent Christian kingdoms allied with Byzantium. Through the fifth and sixth centuries, Persian armies repeatedly occupied Iberian territory, installing puppet rulers and attempting to suppress Christianity. Some Iberian nobles converted to Zoroastrianism seeking Persian favor. Others fled to Byzantine protection. But the church remained, and with it popular resistance that Persia could never quite crush. Even when Persian governors controlled major towns, Christian communities in mountain valleys maintained distinct identity. This religious resilience eventually allowed Iberians to reassert independence when Persian power collapsed in the seventh century. Yet they remained forever vulnerable - squeezed between empires, their survival depending on religious unity that substituted for military strength. They could control territory through popular devotion where they lacked armies to hold it, but this also meant any challenge to church authority threatened the kingdom's foundations. Iberian Christianity ran so deep that faith and nationality became indistinguishable, creating communities that could endure occupation but struggled to expand beyond their ancestral lands.
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